Kirby Puckett, a Hall of Fame Outfielder, Is Dead at 45

By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN

Published: March 7, 2006

Kirby Puckett, the Hall of Fame outfielder for the Minnesota Twins, acclaimed for his sunny personality and his passion for baseball, died yesterday at a hospital in Phoenix. He was 45.

The cause was complications from a stroke he had Sunday at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., the Twins said. Puckett had neurosurgery at Scottsdale Osborne Hospital on Sunday, then was transferred to St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, where he died. Mike Herman, a spokesman for the Twins, said medical records showed that Puckett was a year older than his listed age in record books.

At 5 feet 9 inches and around 220 pounds, Puckett hardly bore the frame of a major league star. But he became one of baseball's premier hitters and a superb center fielder, starring for the Twins from 1984 to 1995.

He appeared in 10 consecutive All-Star Games, beginning with his third season in 1986. He led the Twins to World Series championships in 1987 and 1991, and he had a .318 career batting average with 2,304 hits and 207 home runs. He won the American League batting title in 1989 with a .339 average and batted over .300 in 8 of his 12 seasons. He led the American League or was tied for the most hits in a season four times, he was the runs-batted-in leader in 1994, and he won a Gold Glove award for his fielding six times.

For all those statistical achievements, Puckett was hailed as much for the sheer joy he communicated at a time when soaring salaries distanced many players from their fans.

''I played every game like it was my last,'' Puckett said when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001, his first year of eligibility. ''I think I'm one of the few guys who can say I left my blood, sweat and tears on the field.''

Puckett was also known for his work in community projects. He played host to a billiards tournament benefiting pediatric heart research, worked with antidrug programs and bought tickets to Twins games for poor children.

He had a routinely outstanding season in 1995, batting .314. But on March 28, 1996, when he awakened at the Twins' spring camp in Fort Myers, Fla., a black dot appeared in the central part of his right retina and he could not see when looking straight ahead. He was found to have a central retina vein occlusion in that eye and glaucoma in both eyes.

He never played again, announcing his retirement the next July after the third in a series of operations on his right eye revealed irreversible retina damage.

On the night of Sept. 7, 1996, a sellout crowd of 51,011 -- the largest at the Twins' stadium since their 1993 season opener -- bade Puckett farewell before a game with the California Angels.

Puckett was named an executive vice president of the Twins soon after he retired. But he left that post in November 2002 after a stunning turn of fortune for a man considered one of the most popular sports figures in Minnesota history.

On Dec. 21, 2001, Puckett's wife, Tonya, filed a report with the police in Edina, Minn., saying that in a telephone conversation earlier that month, Puckett had threatened to kill her. She also recounted what she said was his history of domestic violence. Puckett denied being a threat and no criminal charges were filed, but soon afterward the couple announced plans to divorce.

In October 2002, Puckett was charged with false imprisonment, criminal sexual conduct and assault after a woman accused him of forcing her into a men's room at a restaurant in Eden Prairie, Minn., and groping her. He was found not guilty at a jury trial the next April, but he remained out of baseball.

Kirby Puckett was born in Chicago on March 14, 1960. He grew up in a housing project on the South Side, the youngest of nine children. His father was a postal worker and the family lived in a three-room apartment.

''I didn't get into trouble because I stayed away from those elements,'' he once told Ira Berkow of The New York Times. ''I had my sights set on playing ball. If you ever wanted to find Kirby Puckett, you knew where to go -- around the corner, where I'd be there with my ball and bat and hitting and throwing against a wall.''

Puckett was drafted by the Twins in 1982 after playing for Bradley University and Triton College in Illinois. He helped take the Twins to the 1987 World Series championship, a seven-game victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. He was named the most valuable player in the 1991 American League Championship Series against Toronto , then hit an 11th-inning home run in Game 6 of the World Series against the Braves, keeping the Twins alive. They went on to beat Atlanta for the championship.

Puckett is survived by a son, Kirby Jr., and a daughter, Catherine.

''In many ways, he's the signature element of our franchise,'' the Twins' president, Dave St. Peter, told The Star Tribune of Minneapolis after Puckett had the stroke.

St. Peter recalled ''that infectious smile and the way he played the game.''

''I tell people that the way I define Kirby Puckett's popularity is by the thousands and thousands of dogs and cats named after him throughout the Upper Midwest,'' he said. ''Kirby and I always laughed about that.''

Photos: The Twins' Kirby Puckett hit an 11th-inning home run to win Game 6 of the 1991 World Series against the Braves. The Twins won the Series. (Photo by Jim Mone/Associated Press); Puckett was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001. (Photo by John Dunn/Associated Press)